Description

FRANCE MARGUERITE ELLEGAARD (PARIS, FRANCE, OCTOBER 10, 1913 – ESPOO, FINLAND, APRIL 17, 1999)

France Ellegaard was the daughter of the cyclist Thorvald Ellegaard. She grew up in Paris during and after the First World War. The family took up permanent residence in Paris in 1912, because the city was a convenient center for the father’s many travels. Since then, the family stayed so that France Ellegaard could complete her musical education there. Already when she was five years old, she performed at charity concerts, and only nine years old, she began her education at the Paris Conservatory. Her conservatory studies, which lasted until 1932, included not only piano playing, but also music theory, composition, music history and percussion, and she showed such good results in all fields that during the conservatory period she collected twelve first prizes. She made her debut at the age of 14 in Copenhagen. Two years later came her debut in Paris, where she completed her piano education by playing the Nikolaj Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Concerto with the Orchester Lamoureux conducted by Albert Wolff. His music theory studies she completed four years later, and then she began an extensive guest appearances, which made her known throughout Europe. France Ellegaard’s mother, Karen Kirstine Nicolaysen, who during her daughter’s upbringing had carefully managed her music education, continued to be the chaperone for her on all the tours in Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and most of the rest of Europe. Only after she turned 30, she started organizing her career herself. She lived in Denmark at the outbreak of World War II and tried to continue her career despite the war. The Danish artists were obliged to participate in cultural events in Nazi Germany, and this also applies to France Ellegaard, who gave concerts in Berlin in the 1942-1943 season. When she received a one-month travel permit to Sweden in 1943, she chose to stay in Stockholm for the rest of the war. In Sweden, she met the Hungarian pianist Annie Fischer, with whom she gave several duo concerts. After the war, she lost the Danish audience who perceived her as pro-German. France Ellegaard often plays in Finland, where she performed for the first time in 1933. In 1948 she met her future husband, Birger Carlstedt, who was one of Finland’s first and leading non-figurative painters. The couple married in 1949 and France Ellegaard moved into her husband’s artist residence in Matinkylä (Mattby) outside Helsinki. In the 1960s her concert business began to decline. She taught at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki 1969–1975.

TRACKLIST

1. Chaconne Op. 32 1. del (Chopin) Polyphon HM 80070
2. Chaconne Op. 32 2. del (Nielsen) Polyphon HM 80070
3. Etude I E-Moll, Op. 25, Nr. 5 (Chopin) Polyphon H. M 80052-B
4. Fantasi Impromptu, Op. 66 1 Del (Allegro-Agitato-Largo) (Chopin) Polyphon H.M 80024-A
5. Fantasi Impromptu, OP. 66 2 Del (Presto) (Chopin) Polyphon H.M 80024-B
6. La Campanella (Paganini-Liszt) Polyphon 51088 P
7. La fille aux cheveux de lin (Debussy) Polyphon H.A 70019-B
8. Le Petit ane Blanc (Ibert) Polyphon H.A. 70019-A
9. Liebestraum, Nr. 3 (Liszt) Polyphon 51088 F
10. Nocturne I G-Dur, Op. 37, Nr. 2 (Chopin) Polyphon H. M 80051-A
11. Nocturne I G-Dur, Op. 37, Nr. 2 (Chopin) Polyphon H. M 80051-B
12. Polonaise I As-Dur, op. 53 (Chopin) del 1 Polyphon HM 80025-A
13. Polonaise I As-Dur, op. 53 (Chopin) del 2 Polyphon HM 80025-B
14. Polonaise, Op. 40, Nr. 1 I A-Dur (Chopin) Polyphon HM 80022-B
15. Præludium-Des-Dur, Op. 28, Nr. 15 (Chopin) Polyphon H. M 80052-A
16. Ungarsk Dans Nr 2 del 1 (Liszt) Polyphon 51088 F
17. Ungarsk Dans Nr 2 del 2 (Liszt) Polyphon 51088 F
18. Ungarsk Rhapsodi Nr 2 del 1 (Liszt) Polyphon HM 80021-A
19. Ungarsk Rhapsodi Nr 2 del 2 (Liszt) Polyphon HM 80021-B
20. Vals I As-dur (Chopin) Polyphon H.A 70018-B
21. Vals, Op. 64, Nr. 2 I Cis-Moll (Chopin) Polyphon HM 80022-A